


Dearly Beloved

by NoGalraNoGlory



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gay, M/M, Mysterious Tower, Not Beta Read, Post-Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, Pre-Kingdom Hearts III, Soriku - Freeform, Sort Of, Twilight Town (Kingdom Hearts), no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-08 23:56:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17990957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoGalraNoGlory/pseuds/NoGalraNoGlory
Summary: There was this uneasy feeling settling in Riku's stomach and he didn't like it one bit. He tries to think about what Sora asked him a bit harder. "Do you love Kairi?" His answers still the same no matter how he thinks about it. As far as he's aware, they've both loved Kairi since Kairi came to the island. If what Sora was asking was if he loved him too, the answer was of course! He really cared about both of his friends.





	Dearly Beloved

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing anything about Kingdom Hearts! I hope I did an okay job ahaha. Well, enjoy!

Riku has never been much of a morning person. He's slow to wake up but when he does open his eyes to the bright world, he's often sluggish for the first thirty minutes before he becomes coherent. Now, one would think that after knowing this information about a person for ten years, one would learn to accommodate for those faults and strengths; to have a long lasting friendship would bring on adaptability, would it not?

 Apparently not because as Riku is dreamlessly enjoying his weekend, Sora invasively throws his door open and comes stomping in. "Riikuuuu!" The brunet jumps onto the sluggish lump on the bed, hearing it let out a raspy groan. "Rikuuu, wake up! I need to ask you something!" The brunet rocks back and forth on Riku with his little patience running out.

 The lump groans a little louder, two vaguely hand-like limbs taking form as they push at Sora. Riku sits up finally, short hair sticking up every which way. He squints at his best friend, possibly a glare or possibly just trying to see through his sleepy haze. "Sora...? What do you want??" He puts a hand to his forehead, rubbing at his eye. Sora fixates a very serious look on his face, staring at Riku intently. That look makes Riku freeze, suddenly more awake than a second ago. "Sora, what is it? What's wrong? Is everything okay?" Riku suddenly starts getting up, holding out his hand to quickly summon his keyblade. Sora stops him, though. He quickly grabs Riku's wrist and tugs him back down to the bed.

 "Riku, just listen. I need to ask you something very important. Promise not to get mad." Although still cautious, Riku relaxes. He sits back down on the bed and lets his hand flop to his side once Sora let's go of it. Riku looks at his friend dubiously now, knowing that whenever Sora asks him to not get mad, it's usually because he's about to say something stupid.

 "Sora—“

"Promise!"

"Why do I need t—“

"I said promise!"

The older male sighs, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. " _Okay._ I promise." Seeming satisfied, Sora smiles a little, a serious look still in his eyes.

 "Good! Thanks, Riku." Not like he had much of a choice, considering how Sora had just pestered him. A silence falls between both of them. Sora looks off in the distance, face set with a frown and his lips thinned to a straight line. Riku stares at him for a minute, both amazed and disgruntled at his friend. Riku aggressively clears his throat, snapping Sora out of his stupor. He looks surprised, eyes locking with Riku's. "What?" He dares ask.

Riku withstands the urge to strangle him. Instead, he sighs exasperatedly. "You did not wake me up like this just to stare off into space, Sora." The younger boy frowns in confusion for a moment before seeming to remember the reason why he was in here, with a now wide awake Riku.

 "Oh! Right! Thanks, Riku." Sora sits up straighter, making Riku do the same. He inhales and exhales before he slaps his cheeks twice. "Okay," He starts, rolling back his shoulders. He looks Riku in the eye, serious expression coming back forthwith. "I need you to make out with me."

 What.

 Seeing Riku's shocked face, Sora quickly scrambles to continue talking before Riku can ask him what the hell he's talking about. "H-hold on!! You don't have to worry, it's for science! Only science."

 Riku's expression turns from mortified to incredulous in seconds. "How is that supposed to make me feel better?!" Honestly, Riku was almost never surprised by Sora's stupidity but this is a whole new level of stupid. Sora's already red face only gets redder, reminding Riku of Lea's hair. It's kind of amusing.

 "I-I don't know! I just didn't want you to worry because it's not that big of a...deal?" Even Sora isn't convincing himself. "A-anyways, I just realized it was a bad idea to ask you this so I'm just going to go down and eat breakfast with everyone." Sora gets up off Riku's bed, still red-faced, when Riku gets an absurd but very real and very terrifying thought. What if Sora goes to someone like Lea and asks the same question? What if Lea says yes _?_  Riku wouldn’t put it past him.

 "Sora, wait." Riku grabs Sora's arm without thinking. He tugs him back to his bed, gulping as a lump forms in his throat. "I'll do it." Riku ignores his heart hammering in his chest as he keeps his grip on Sora's arm. His face feels hot. Is it hot in here? It feels kind of hot. He watches as Sora's eyes widened, suddenly thankful he knows how to keep a straight face.

 "Really?" Sora asked, leaning forward in surprise. Riku haltingly nodded and jumped as Sora practically tackled him. He looked down at the boy, suddenly mesmerized by the shining smile on his face. "Thanks, Riku!" He pulled Riku into a tight hug and Riku suddenly felt lost. Why was Sora acting so weird today? What's going on in that empty skull of his? Riku frowns a little, slowly resting the hand that wasn't holding him up on the small of Sora's back.  

 Suddenly, Sora pulls back just enough to look Riku in the eyes. Their noses brush occasionally, making goosebumps raise on his arms. Are they seriously going to make out now _?_ Wasn't Sora about to go eat breakfast with the others? This can't be happening. Not now _._

 But it all started to feel startlingly real as Sora's eyes flickered down to Riku's lips. Riku felt his hands becoming clammier by the second. Okay, so it was happening. Neat. Great. Fantastic. Now that Sora had looked, Riku couldn't stop himself from looking down too. There they were, right in front of him. This really was happening, wasn't it? Riku's got to admit, he didn't think Sora could be so forward. Back when they were kids back on Destiny Island, Sora had a hard time even asking to hold Kairi's hand. Riku knew that Sora has always retained that shyness of romantic intimacy. He was always comfortable around his close friends, enough to be all touchy-feely with them, but when it came to that line of platonic intimacy to romantic intimacy, Sora always stayed back. Riku knew that. So, why was he looking at Riku without a shred of embarrassment riddled on his face?

 Sora started to lean a little closer. His eyes were looking between Riku's eyes and his lips, apparently wanting to keep track of both. Riku swears he can't breathe as Sora gets closer, tilting his head to possibly slot their lips together without failing and Riku can't breathe.

 But faster than Riku could say 'darkness', Sora was on the other side of the bed, leaving Riku to be confused all by his lonesome. He wasn't really sure what to say but it seemed he didn't need to because suddenly Kairi was in the room, talking.

 "Sora, you bum! I thought you said you were going to wake Riku to bring him downstairs for breakfast!" Kairi chastised Sora kindheartedly as she put her hands on her hips. Riku looked back to Sora for a moment, seeing a sheepish grin on his face.

 "Sorry, sorry! Riku was being a sleepy idiot and so I was trying to drag him out of bed," Riku raised a curious eyebrow at Sora. Lying to Kairi, of all people? That's so unlike Sora. Definitely, something he'll press Sora about later. Riku looked to Kairi to see if she was believing this idiot's lies and was kind of relieved to see she didn't seem suspicious. Why was he relieved? Well, he'd rather not bring this situation up again.

 Kairi hummed, "Alright, then. Don't blame me when Lea and Donald eat your guys' share! Oh, and good morning Riku!" She sends him a wink with a peace sign before leaving, leaving the door open a crack. Riku squinted at the door left ajar. Maybe she did see through Sora.

The two keyblade wielders were left in suffocating silence. Riku scooted to the edge of the bed and got up, walking to his closet. He pulled off his pyjama bottoms and tossed them towards his hamper. He tugged on his vest as he heard the bed creak. "Well, I'll see you downstairs Riku!" Sora walked up to him to slap him on the back before leaving. Riku zipped up his vest and began tugging on his pants as he got lost in thought. It was just so odd _._ Everything about this morning has been odd and Sora's abruptly acting different, apparently able to hide his emotions. He's never been able to do that. This is the same kid who was so vexed by his bullies and couldn't figure out to stop reacting to every little thing they said to him, right? Fine, then. If Sora's going to pretend nothing's wrong, so will he.

* * *

 

 A few minutes later, Riku is walking down the stairs of the mysterious tower. He trusts that the tower's magic will lead him to the dining hall without any hitches and, miraculously, he's right. There's a new floor that appeared before him and he peered in, seeing all his comrades eating together. He walks in and everyone looks to him, shouting various greetings. He sits down in the open seat between Sora and King Mickey, pulling in his chair.

 Lea looked up from his plate lazily to tease him, "Someone got a good night's sleep." He pointed his fork at Riku before going back to shovelling scrambled egg in his mouth. Kairi snorts into her drink.

 "No kidding. Sora had to drag him out of bed and it _still_ didn't deter Riku." She jested, voice echoey due to her glass. Rolling his eyes,  Riku said nothing and reached for the serving plates. He's sort of pleased to see the familiar foods he used to eat when he was a kid. It'd been a while. He grabbed five strips of bacon before reaching for the pancakes, grabbing two. He glanced around for the maple syrup, opening his mouth

 "Here, Riku. Hyuck!" Riku's eyes landed on Goofy as he held up a fancy looking ceramic jug. Riku's lips twitched into a quick smile, nodding at Goofy in thanks. He took the syrup before pouring it onto his pancakes. It looked great. He set the jug down and picked up his utensils, cutting his pancakes into small pieces. He feels someone's eyes on him and glances around. His lock onto Sora when he sees the boy's not looking at him, but his plate. He chuckles and stabs a tiny piece of syrup-drenched pancakes, extending it to Sora.

 "Want some?" Riku teased. He watched Sora's eyes flick up to his and back to his fork. The boy wrinkles his nose in disgust and turns his gaze back to his own food.

"No. I'm just amazed that you don't have diabetes already." Sora picks up a cut piece of pancake and eats it. Upon further inspection, it's clear that he's not having plain pancakes like the rest of them. They're chocolate pancakes.

 Eyebrow raised, Riku snorts as he points at Sora's plate accusingly with his fork. "Says the _literal child_ eating chocolate chip pancakes." Sora sticks his tongue out at Riku, exactly proving his point, and shoves a piece of his pancake in his mouth aggressively.

 "Whatever," He mumbles, mouth full. "At least my food is a moderate amount of sugar unlike a certain Riku I know"

 "At least I have table manners."

They share a fiery staring contest, Sora glaring at the keyblade master while said keyblade master looked at him with an amused smile. Finally, Sora broke it off with a huff. He picked up a strip of bacon and ate it loudly. Riku only shook his head, chuckling as he reached for the scrambled eggs. The King started talking to Donald and Goofy about something along the lines of sending letters to Disney Castle. Kairi decided to make conversation with Lea, who was still stuffing his face. This was nice. Not having to worry about any heartless or death was really nice. Although it was hard for Riku to adjust to nothing detrimental happening but, seeing as it's been a week, he was becoming more relaxed. Obviously, he knew it wasn't supposed to last, but he could stop and enjoy the flowers when they were presented to him.

 It was... "Okay, Sora, could you stop staring? If you wanted some eggs, here's the plate!" Riku, slightly irritated at the boy's staring, began to pick up the serving plate. Sora pushed the plate away from him, wrinkling his nose yet again.

 "I don't! Stop trying to get me to eat that, Riku!" This time, Riku was insistent, shoving the plate towards Sora. "I was just wondering what they tasted like! I don't want a whole serving!" After hearing that, Riku calmed down. He set down the plate and picked up his fork. He quickly ate off the impaled pancake piece and stabbed some pieces of scrambled egg onto his fork. He reached out for Sora with his free hand and gently turned his head towards his fork.

 “Try some,” Riku ordered. Sora sighed a little but ate the eggs off of Riku’s spoon without hesitation. He sat back as he ate. Satisfied, Riku began gathering two pieces of his syrup covered pancakes and got it ready for Sora to try. The boy looked impassive as he looked at Riku.

 “Felt like I was chewing rubber.”

 Ignoring his comment, Riku held his fork up. “Ready?” He asked. Sora nodded and leaned towards him, opening his mouth. Riku, thinking nothing of his actions, put the fork in Sora’s mouth for him to eat. Once he did, he returned to eating his own food, feeling quite satisfied with himself. “How is it?” He asked Sora specifically because he was being quiet about it. With quirked lips, he ate some of his pancakes without looking at Sora.

 “...‘s good.” He muttered.

 Riku and Sora shared a mutual half-glare, jokingly kicking each other under the table like children. They both laughed it off and went back to eating.

 What pleased Riku the most was that it seemed that this morning’s weirdness was gone. Sora was acting normal and, in return, so was he. But it raised the question of why Sora had done what he had this morning? What was the motivation? Riku can’t fathom why Sora would’ve asked a question like that. But, if he was done acting in such a way then it must mean it wasn’t that big of a deal.

 “Right, Riku?” Riku was snapped out of his inner thoughts with mild mental whiplash, eyes seeking out Kairi’s as she spoke to him.

 “Mmnnn?” He hummed questioningly, mouth full of food. She laughed and tipped her head back with her glass, finishing off the contents before speaking.

 “Lea was wondering what we did back on the islands as kids. I told him about making our raft and everyone always practicing fighting each other.” Yeah, those were the days. The days Riku loathed every second he stayed on the island, mind confused and mulling over the reasons why he stayed. Basically, just being a brooding idiot ninety percent of the time. Those were not his best moments.

 Riku settled on a nod. “Mmnnn.” He hummed decisively. He ate his last strip of bacon and reached for more. Kairi quickly slapped his hand away from the bacon plate, making Riku quickly pull away. He grunted at her impishly as he rubbed his stinging hand.

 “Don’t eat it all, selfish. I still want some too.” She picked up her own pieces before sitting back, gesturing to the plate to signal to Riku that he was free to grab his own now. Sometimes, Riku forgets how forward Kairi can be. It’s a particularly new trait she acquired, probably during the time he and Sora were away, and it took some getting used to.

 Save harmless small talk, nothing much else happened during breakfast. Sora continues to eat his special chocolate chip pancakes and Riku collected his dish for him once they were both done. Sora had decided to stay and talk with the others, while Riku preferred to go train on some dummy Master Yen Sid could conjure up. Even if there’s peace, he mustn’t let his skills get rusty.

 

* * *

 

It was the next day, a Friday when the weirdness started happening again.

Riku and Sora were on a materials run for Master Yen Sid. It had taken up most of their day, as they had to scour the entirety of Twilight Town multiple times. Whatever Master Yen Sid was doing, it sure was going to be power consuming. But that wasn’t what was odd. What was odd is that Sora didn’t even complain about the workload *once.* He’s been diligent this whole time, keeping a straight face as he helped Riku cut down every Heartless in sight. Of course, he would keep the conversation going when it arose but nothing else. It was...unnerving.

 After a particularly hard group of Heartless were slain, they stood there in the middle of the square. The sun was beaming down on them, causing sweat to roll down Riku's back

 “Riku?” Sora’s voice was soft, much more gentle than usual.  Riku refrained from looking to Sora’s bright blue eyes because they always messed with him.

 “Yeah?” Riku licked his dry lips, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Instead of looking at Sora, he settled on staring at their shadows on the ground. Sora lifted his hand that was closest to Riku and put it beside Riku’s shadow. The teal eyed male ignored his squirming heart, telling it to stay still.

 Sora keeps his shadow hand there. “Do you love Kairi?” He asks. With a fleeting glance, Riku sees the boy is staring down at their shadows, eyebrows barely dipping into a contemplative and serious frown. It looked similar to yesterday morning.

 Riku answers without hesitation. "Yeah. Don't you?" That doesn't seem to be the answer the shorter boy's looking for, as he then frowns a little more. Riku frowns at Sora's frown.

 "That's not what I mean. You know that." Does he? He was pretty sure that both of them loved and cared for Kairi equally. He thought that was common knowledge since they'd fought to protect her way back when. Hearing his silence, Sora huffs a little indignantly. "Nevermind. Forget I asked." Riku sees their shadow hands fall apart and turns to Sora fully.

"What? Sora, what are you talking about?" The older teen tries to reach for his friend, hand two inches from Sora's shoulder when his friend whips around. His kingdom key knocks Riku's hand away and Riku almost doesn't recognize his friend with that glare on his face.

 "I wish you knew! I wish you weren't so stupidly oblivious! You have no idea what effect you have on me!" Sora's eyes are red around the rims. Riku hadn't noticed that before. He tried to say something before Sora cut him off. "I told you to forget what I said, okay? It's not important right now. We have the materials Master Yen Sid needed. Let's go back so everything can be normal." He turned away and started walking in the direction of the train station. He didn't even give Riku time to respond.

 There was this uneasy feeling settling in Riku's stomach and he didn't like it one bit. He tries to think about what Sora asked him a bit harder. _"Do you love Kairi?"_ His answers still the same no matter how he thinks about it. As far as he's aware, they've both loved Kairi since Kairi came to the island. If what Sora was asking was if he loved him too, the answer was of course! He really cared about both of his friends.

 Riku tried his hardest to decipher what Sora had said but ultimately came up with nothing.

 

* * *

 

Once Riku got back to the mysterious tower, and he delivered his portion of collected materials, he was guided by the tower's magic to the kitchen. There, he saw Sora, Lea and the dog all bustling around. Lea was the first to spot him, waving him over with a ladle in hand. "Yo, grumpy pants! Come help us make dinner." Deciding to ignore the nickname, Riku walks further into the kitchen.

 Sora's eyes meet his as he pries his attention away from the vegetables he's chopping. He grins a blinding smile and beckons his friend. "Riku! come help me cut these." He doesn't seem at all affected by the squabble from earlier if that grin is anything to go by. Riku watches Sora go back to cutting up some vegetables and cautiously walks to him.

 Suddenly, the cool handle of the knife is shoved into his hand and he's right in front of the cutting board. Sora nimbly hops onto the counter and swings his legs. "What the-- why do I have to do this?" Riku eyes the knife as he rolls it from palm to palm before looking at the brunet. Said brunet sticks his tongue out at him.

 "My hands are tired. I need a break." He states matter-of-factly, staring at his hands in emphasis. Riku almost goes on to start cutting without question until he sees the faint hint of amusement twitch at Sora's lips. He instead puts down the knife and shifts between Sora's open legs. With a raised eyebrow, he gives the younger keyblade wielder an accusing stare. Sora meets his eyes easily. "What?" He asks, a hint of mirth dancing in his blue eyes.

 Cheeky bugger. "You know what. If your hands hurt so much, want me to massage them?" It was only supposed to be a light jest, but the cheeky keyblade wielder grinned at him and told him 'Sure.' Not one to back down, especially to the challenging look Sora always gave him,  he took the brunet's left hand in his and started pressing his thumbs into different parts of Sora's palm. He frowned in concentration as he massaged the other's hand. They stayed in silence like that for a little while, Riku concentrating on massaging his best friend's calloused hands while said best friend made fun of his concentration. He's saying that now, but he'll be grateful when his hands are all relaxed later. Riku reminds himself that as he switches to the right hand.

 Somehow, in those long minutes, he feels eyes on him. He sneaks a glance or two every once in a while but sees that Lea and Goofy are minding to their jobs for the meal, conversing to each other every once in a while. Otherwise, the kitchen was very quiet. Once Riku was done with massaging Sora's hands, he moved to start cutting up the abandoned cucumbers.

 About a minute into cutting up the vegetables, he felt a certain mischievous snake coil his arms around his torso. Riku opted to ignore him despite the hands pressing against his stomach. Displeased at being ignored, Sora whined and planted his hands upon Riku's shoulders. Sora's hands started kneading, thumbs pressing as he applied pressure on Riku's shoulders before calmly releasing again.

 Tensing a little, Riku stopped cutting to glance back at his friend. He gave him a weird stare. "What're you doing?"

 Sora met his gaze, looking oddly calm. No smile on his face, just serene and relaxed. He shrugged and focused looking at Riku's shoulders. "I dunno. You gave me a massage, so I'll give you one. You're always so _tense."_  Sora pushed his hands a little harder for emphasis and Riku would be a flat out liar if he said the massaging didn't feel good. He rolled his neck a little before going back to cutting the vegetables.

 He felt his ears burn a little in embarrassment when he realized he hadn't said anything in response to Sora. It felt weird to outright confess he liked it but weirder to be silent. He chopped up the rest of the cucumber and muttered a soft "Cool" before reaching for the bell pepper. He started cutting the fruit when Sora snorted behind him.

 Riku almost gave himself whiplash with how fast he looked at Sora. Cheeks reddening starkly against his pale skin, he angrily hissed at Sora to shut up. His hands haphazardly continued cutting, trusting their ability to cut blindly when all of the sudden, there was a stinging pain in his forefinger. He practically jumped out of his skin as he looked back at the cutting board. What he was faced with was the knife he had a few centimetres deep in his finger. Blood was already spilling out onto the board and he gasped. Though his finger was bleeding out and throbbing in pain, he calmly set the knife to the side and grabbed the first towel in his sight. Once wrapped, he turned fully to Sora and calmly told him "I cut my finger and bled on the bell peppers." Sora's eyes immediately widened and he pushed Riku to the side to look at the mess.

 "Ohhh my god, Riku! Say something sooner, why dontcha?" Riku silently watches Sora's hands scramble around frantically, face twisted into between pain from his cut and amusement from watching his friend be so sporadic. Sora chucks the untouched bell peppers into the sink not too far away and quickly starts cleaning up the mess. Once done, he turns his attention to Riku. More specifically, his hand. "Show me your hand, Riku." The command was firm enough for Riku to obey compliantly.

 He took the towel off his hand, crumpling it up in his good hand so Sora didn't whatever amount of blood had come from his wound. He holds out his injured finger to Sora, beads of red dotting the very significant line. It doesn't look *that* bad. Maybe worthy of a regular potion but Riku wasn't too worried. Sora didn't seem impossibly worried, thankfully

 Riku watched Sora stare at his hand for a small minute before sighing. "I left all my stuff in my room. I didn't think I'd need it." Riku saw that horrible expression cross his face. The expression that telegraphed how he was scolding himself. The silver-haired male softened his gaze and gently tipped Sora's chin up to look him in the eye. He still had that look on his face. 

 _"Hey,"_ He said softly. "Don't worry about it. It's not that serious. Okay? Now get that look off your face." Sora's eyebrows furrowed for a moment before he smiled just a little.

 Someone clearing their throat broke the two's shared gaze. Riku's expression hardened to its normal state to look at Lea. The obnoxiously redheaded keyblade wielder put his hands on his hips with an annoyed expression. "You guys _do_ remember you have a healing spell, don't you?" Ah. That hadn't occurred to him, actually. And apparently, it hadn't occurred to Sora either because his mouth was dropped open. He smacked himself on the forehead as he laughed.

 "I'm an idiot!" With a smile, he held out his right hand to his side. With a flash of white light, the kingdom key appeared in his hand. He lifted it straight up and shouted a "Heal!" A green glow surrounded Riku completely before disappearing completely. Looking down at his hand, he saw no more signs of the cut that was once there. He clenched his hand into a fist for good measure and nodded.

 "Thanks, Sora." Sora's keyblade disappeared with another flash of light, leaving his hand empty. Sora silently nodded back at him with a small hum. There was this sweet silence that fell for a few seconds. They just stared at each other as if the entire world had fallen to darkness and they were the only two left. Well, actually that was a lie. If that happened, they'd both be searching to bring everyone back come hell or high water.

 Lea snorting followed by snickering broke Riku out of his second staring match with Sora. A little annoyed, Riku looked to Lea who seemed to be immensely amused. "What?" He asked harshly. That only made Lea laugh harder until he was doubling over. Looking to Goofy, he saw that he looked amused as well. " _What???_ " Riku crossed his arms over his chest angrily. He didn't like not knowing what the hell was going on especially if he was at the butt of the joke.

 Lea's laughter settled down after he stopped wheezing and soon enough he was just grinning uncomfortably wide. "Kairi was right. You _are_ pretty much like a newlywed couple." Riku's stomach does about a dozen flips and twists in record time. Sora matches his own surprise, screeching unintelligible words at Lea. Okay, Riku didn't think it was _that_ big of a deal.

 "Gawrsh, Riku! You're bright red! You okay?" Shoot.

 Now Lea is leering at him and Sora's attention is on him, face just as red as he suspected his own was. "Riku??" Sora's voice was an octave or so higher than usual and it did funny and un(pleasant) things to his stomach yet again. Riku now was starting to feel the heat on his face. God, how was he supposed to diffuse this situation???

 Okay, Riku, think. Stay calm. Just calmly ask Lea what the hell he's talking about. "Kairi said _what?!_ " Lea was only grinning wider now. Dammit.

 "Oh, she's said _lots_ of things. But more importantly, haven't you guys noticed how lovey-dovey you two act?? I mean, the cuddling, the massaging, the feeding each other food--all of it! I really thought you guys were together before Kairi told me you weren't" Lea shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as if he hadn't just dropped a huge bomb on Riku's entire world. The _homewrecker_ redhead just turned back to whatever he was doing on his side of the kitchen and Riku was left speechless.

 What...what does he do now? It feels nearly impossible to look at Sora now. When he thinks about being together with Sora, he doesn't know what to think. He's not disgusted _._ In fact, he doesn't mind that thought. Waking up beside Sora every morning, cuddling beside him while watching a movie, kissing him…

 Now that Riku thinks about, he wasn't at all opposed to making out with his best friend. In fact, he remembers feeling just a tad bit giddy when Sora got impossibly close. Riku tried to instead think about if he were to kiss Kairi but as soon as he thought about it, he wanted to rip out the thought and stomp it into the ground. Oh. _Oh. Oh no._

 He's in love with his best friend.

 "I...I have to go help the king with something." And just like that, Riku tucked his tail and scurried out of the kitchen. He heard Sora calling for him, wanting him to stay, but he just couldn't.

 God, he’s such a coward.

 Riku made like his dad and disappeared from sight. He left the mysterious tower altogether and hid away in between the streets of Twilight Town. He needed to think. How had things become like this? How had he fallen in love with Sora?? More importantly, _how had he not been aware of this?_  Why had that obnoxious redheaded idiot been the one to point it out to him?! Geez, Riku felt so frustrated by this all. Okay okay, calm down. Think about this logically, Riku. Whenever he thinks about Sora, he gets this fuzzy feeling in his chest. He's ignored it up until now, he knows that but never thought too deeply about it. But all of a sudden Riku remembers. Earlier today, Sora had asked him if he loved Kairi and when Riku answered, he got really upset. That's when everything started clicking into place and Riku knew he needed to get to Sora right away.

 Riku was up and out as fast as his legs could carry him. He took the train to the mysterious tower and began bounding up the stairs, laboured breaths fixated carefully. "Sora!" He called out, feeling a surge of adrenaline course through him. He felt as if the mysterious tower was mocking him, extending the stairs upward into oblivion for not being able to figure out his feelings for so long. How long had he kept Sora waiting? How many times had he said something insensitive to Sora, unaware of how it affected him? God, he's probably the biggest fool out there.

 Finally, the mysterious tower led him to where he wanted to go. It was Sora's room that appeared immediately to Riku's right. Stopping abruptly, he practically threw himself at the door. "Sora!" He called again. He aggressively yanked at the doorknob, frustrated that it wasn't opening for him right away. He heard shuffling on the other side and decided to step back. Sora opens the door, wearing a tank shirt and shorts.

 "Riku? What's wrong?" The brunet rubbed at his left eye and that only seemed to highlight the fact that they were puffy and red. Riku really messed up this time.

 Shuffling on his feet a little, Riku stared right at Sora. "Can I come in?" He really hoped it wasn't too late to make up for how he acted. He wanted to make things right.

 Sora's hand stopped rubbing at his eye before dropping to his side. He sniffs through a stuffy nose. "Okay." was all Sora had to say before turning and walking deeper into the room. Riku quietly came in and shut the door behind him. There was this uncomfortable silence that fell between the two of them, starting to suffocate the truth out of Riku. He opened his mouth to speak but Sora interrupted him. "Could you maybe make this quick, Riku? I'm really tired so I'm probably going to go to bed..."

 Swallowing the lump in his throat, Riku clenched his fist at his side. "Yeah, I'll make this quick." He briskly walked towards Sora, grabbing ahold of his arm and spinning him around to meet his gaze. With a determined look in his eye, Riku leaned downward and connected his lips with Sora's. He could feel the muscles in Sora's arm tense and his lips stay completely still. Riku persists, though. He softens his grip on Sora's arm and just lets his lips be the only thing connected to Sora at that moment. After a few seconds, Riku pulls away. He keeps his eyes downcast, every anxious bone in his body hitting him all at once. He hesitates for a moment but opens his mouth to apologize to Sora for kissing him without asking first but he's broken out of his antsy qualms by two gloved hands being placed on his neck and yanking him forward.

Once Sora's lips met with his, he melted into a puddle of the man he used to be. His nervousness and apprehension pooled into his adoration for the person he had within his grasp. He wrapped his arms around Sora's waist tightly, embracing him fully. Their lips pushed and pulled away together with near-perfect synchronicity. It's as if they'd been kissing for years, knowing each groove and curve of their bodies. Riku felt like he wanted to cry. In fact, he might actually cry. Pulling away, he took the time to mumble those very important words.

"I love you."

Instantly, Sora let out an indigent whine which turned into an exasperated groan. "Gwaaaah, Riku! I love you too!" Sora swung his head back as he let himself become boneless in Riku's arms. Not expecting it but certainly able to keep up with Sora's pace, Riku adjusted his grip on the other wielder. Sora quickly rights himself and looks Riku dead in the eyes and Riku starts to feel his cheeks burn. "Way to keep a guy waiting."


End file.
